I have to say I’m damn impressed with the iPhone SDK PRESS EVENT. Yes folks, before we start hyperventilating about how this SDK will change the trajectory of computing devices for the next two decades… let’s not forget this is a 1.0 effort, has significant limitations (no multitasking, really?) and was only a PRESS EVENT.
Nonetheless, it was a good show… and the SDK certainly does look promising.
However, the iPhone App Store is a contradition. While there were plenty of complains that a 30% commission is steep and others praising the fact that distribution is indeed part of the platform in a deep way… Am I the only person to recognize that this feels like 1985?
Who pays for software these days? I’m used to obtaining all my useful software for free. This blog is being composed on BlogDesk (free), being uploaded to WordPress (free), being served via Apache (free) and being read via browser (free).
How is Apple to get a cut of revenue where the software is indeed free, but paid for by advertising or other internet business models? For example, don’t you think Apple will want a cut of the official Facebook application, which you know will be distributed for free? OR, even more poignant – what about the Amazon application that will allow you to buy online books (or – gasp – DRM free music in the form of MP3s?)
To me, these are the applications of the present and future. To not address that in their App Store is definitely looking backward.
Finding Nilay 